Happy Christmas

It's early Christmas morning.  I'm having one of those mornings/nights where my nose won't cooperate with sleep.  It's an itch/sneeze that is constant.  It's tolerable while awake most of the time but there's no way I'm getting to sleep with it like this.  So, it's 3:28 AM.  I've been up for a couple of hours already.  I'll probably just get back into a nice deep sleep when I'll hear "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!"...ad nauseum over the baby monitor. 

Simon's become quite the climber.  He's started climbing up on his crib.  Well, yesterday while he was "napping" he came out of his room and wandered into our room to find Daddy wrapping presents and announced he wasn't tired.  So, Daddy had a new project for the day, one that's been on the list for a week or so anyway.  He trod off to his parents' house to get the toddler bed side.  Simon absolutely loves his "new bed".

 He actually took a nap in it this afternoon before we went over to Grandma's house for dinner.  Once we got there I shuffled him outside with cousins as fast as I could.  

As per usual, he wouldn't eat.  We left in a hurry.  Got him home, in the bath where he watched some of The Grinch, and off to bed.  Then Santa came.  He's gonna lose his mind when he wakes up.

Simon is going to this.

Last year his Gabba pals came to town.  We were kind of torn about him going because it was right at the end of his chemo.  We knew we couldn't expose him to all that, but still... it would be really awesome if he could have gone.  Then his chemo was delayed a week and he ended up being in the hospital getting his last round of chemo when they were here.

Not this time.  I just got him tickets to go to this show.  And not just any tickets.  THESE tickets.  The Party Package. 

Gabba Party Packages!

• One (1) AWESOME Ticket in the first 15 Rows.
• One (1) pass to "Get the Sillies Out" in the private VIP room featuring a super fun party with the Gabba Gang (costumed characters)! Includes music, dancing, healthy snacks and refreshments.
• Hassle-Free Merchandise Shopping. Merchandise table located in the VIP Room.
• Photo Opportunity. This time around our Gabba Friends will be available for individual pictures instead of everyone waiting for one shot with the entire gang. More photos, less waiting, more fun!!!!!
• On Site Yo Gabba Gabba! VIP host and Party Patrol to make sure your experience is... AWESOME!!

And, I got it for the 3:00 show, not the 6:00.  Man, that 6:00 woulda been rough.

He's earned it, and then some.  Merry Christmas, my boy.

Words...

cannot express how much I love this boy.

An Internal Battle

This so makes me cry all the tears.  I can just see Simon and Froggy doing their worst to the mean cancer.

If you can't read what the doctor is saying, it's "Good news, it seems the treatment is starting to work."

Faces

Simon has just now started drawing stuff I can recognize.  The picture on the right is Hulk from yesterday.  I can't so much tell it's Hulk, but I can tell both of them are faces.  The one on the right is from tonight.  He's starting to do awesome things.  He's growing up.  I need to do a better job of teaching him things, though.  But he does know one letter, B.  That only leaves 25 more to go. 

Grateful

Ro & Maya

I've been reading a blog written by a mom who lost her 3-year-old to cancer last year.   I've been up reading it in the middle of the night when my sinuses won't let me sleep.  It, like other things, is making me very grateful for what we didn't have to endure.  I feel for all the other parents who end up in the ER with their child for something innocent enough, only to be thrust into the whirlwind of scans and doctors and being told you're not going home today.  It really is dizzying.  But after those first few days of wrapping our heads around what was going on and what we needed to do, it really was so simple.  Sure, the nights where Simon was angry and had a hard time sleeping wore mighty thin.  I threw myself a great pity party.  I had no idea. 

We never spent more than a week in the hospital, not after that first stint.  I think the greatest blessing we had I never had a clue was a blessing.  We never had to share a room.  TCH has only private rooms, at least on the floors we were on.  From what I'm seeing now that is not the norm.  I can't imagine having to go through that hell and not have my own private space.  And the stories of sharing rooms with mere babies and even older children being left in the rooms with only nurses to look after them for many hours or even days is too much.  We never had to worry about what the right course of treatment was for Simon.  We didn't have to travel across the country or even across the state.  We drove a half hour into the Med Center.  And so far we haven't had to sit across from a doctor who is avoiding our eyes with tears in their eyes as they tell us what no parent wants to hear. 

Maybe I should have questioned more.  Maybe, but I don't think so.  I hope not.  But I also hope we never lose our appreciation for everything about Simon and his bravery and that we're lucky things didn't end up different. 

Raising Money

I've started a fundraising campaign for CureSearch which is a childhood cancer non-profit.  I'd like to make a better future for kids with cancer.  We can do much better for these sweet souls.  Here is a link to more information.